Social Support for Behavior Change (An Informative, If Not Sexy, Title)

We all know that our friends help us out when we want to change our behavior.  The support of friends can make the difference between success and failure.  Support comes in four flavors and we may not be able to find all of them in one person.

Perhaps the most obvious form of support is emotional support.  People who give us this kind cheer us on.  They listen when we complain about eating kale (again) or celebrate with a nice sparkling water when we report we lost that stubborn five pounds.

Then there are the people who give us instrumental support.  No, not by accompanying us on the piano while we work out.  These are the people who drive us to the gym or lend us a yoga mat or give us weights for Christmas.

Other people help us out by giving informational support.  This is a sneaky category because it sometimes hides people who are not all that supportive.  They provide “helpful” advice that tears us down.  Real informational support comes from knowledgeable people who really want what is best for you.  Think nutritionists, trainers, doctors, and knowledgeable friends.

Finally, some people give appraisal support.  These are the folks who give you feedback.  They say things like, “You’re almost there!” or “You skipped the fries!  Good on you!”

We need all those kinds of support.  Who’s on your team?

Monday Workout: What we learned last week

So last week while we were celebrating Christmas, I realized we all need to work a bit more on our renegade rows, so they are back this week.  And a little more balance work on the single leg squats plus a helping of round lunges (lunge front, lunge side, lunge back, repeat) would not hurt.  The battle ropes are the fun part!  Four rounds.

1 min cardio
single leg squats	10/side
battle rope alternating slams	20
ball flies	20
renegade rows	10
battle rope double slams	20
round lunges	5/side

Friday Book Report: Acts of Meaning

I work on the mind-body continuum, with an emphasis, of course, on the body side.  However, neglecting the mind entirely causes many body problems.  It is from this perspective that Jerome Bruner’s book Acts of Meaning applies to fitness.

The book explores psychology by positing that what minds do is construct meaning.  We don’t do this all alone, but socially and culturally.  The implications of this in language, story, cognitive science, and community fascinate me.

The book was entirely worth it just to learn about Roger Barker’s assertion of social rule:  “As Barker put it, when people go into the post office, they behave ‘post office.’” (p. 48).  I also enjoyed the exploration of the distributed self, the emergence of meaning with language in children, and the conception of autobiography as justificatory dialogue.

In all, the book felt like falling into a great conversation with someone with an intense intelligence and wide-ranging interest.  Much to think about here.

Get on the upward spiral!

Today in Shameless Self-Promotion, I would like to remind everyone (as if it wasn’t obvious) that I have finished my Behavior Change specialization.  Not only that, but I have used my new skills to help a client set some good goals AND MEET THEM.

She lost ten pounds and at least an inch in every measurement over a one-month period.  Her body fat percentage is down and her clothes are looser.

We chose her goals based on how ready she was to make the changes.  Then we tracked progress.

Want to be next?

Signs...

This sign is posted outside the library in Fallon, NV, where my kid works.  I am one of those people who read signs and apply them in ways the writers probably did not intend.  “End Roadwork” is a call to action, right?  And “Always Open” is about spiritual practice, clearly.

Let’s not loiter aimlessly through life.  Let’s get on with the business of living and Do Stuff, whether it is a workout or a professional accomplishment or a study or an art project.  We are our own police; let’s catch ourselves doing good things.

The rock is smiling at me...

Sometimes we have an excellent plan.  We have challenging, concrete, measurable goals.  We have terrific strategies.  We know what we want and how to get it!

And then we blow it.

It doesn’t matter if blowing it means eating the whole pizza or watching twelve continuous hours of Jerry Springer (is he even still on?) instead of exercising or both at the same time.  Blowing it means we get a brand-new mini-goal:  not letting one mistake totally derail us.

Cognitive behavioral therapy offers a blueprint for this mini-goal.  Here’s what we need to do to get back to what’s important to us:

Face it.  We did it.  Yep, that was us on the couch.  It happened.  But it is over now.

Think it over.  Consider what happened.  Maybe we had a Really Bad Day.  Do some analysis to sort out why we made such an unfortunate choice.

Think it over, again, but this time with what we should have done instead.  We could have transformed that Really Bad Day into a Really Kick-Butt Workout, maybe with punches or ball slams.

Track today.  Yes, we try to do this every day, but the day after a slip it is particularly important to write down what we are doing in the area we are targeting for change, whether that is what we eat or how we move or something else.

Get on with it.  It is not a good idea to do a punitive workout or an Eat-All-Kale day as penance.  We just need to work the plan we already have in place.  Start here, with this day, in this place, with this body.  Up from here.

Monday Workout: Christmas in July

I try to make Christmas come twice a year, once at the normal time and once sometime during the summer.  It’s this week.  Here’s how it works:  your true love wants you to be strong and powerful (or tired…).  He or she gives you one push press on the first day.  On the second day, he or she gives you two goblet squats and a push press.  On the third day, you get three overhead presses, two goblet squats, and a push press.  And so on, until you have done all twelve days’ worth of exercises.  No, I don’t know what we all did to deserve a true love who wants us to do so many burpees.  We can do this.

1 push press

2 goblet squats

3 Overhead press

4 1 leg squats each leg

5 deadlifts

6 burpees

7 pushups

8 renegade rows

9 mountain climbers

10 jump lunges

11 kb swings

12 plyojacks